Editor’s note: This article references sexual assault.
It seems everyone has something to say about the horrifying alleged Chi Phi gang rape case from 2024. Celebrities like Florence Pugh, Rachel Zegler and Josh Gad have spoken up, posting their own opinions and reposting infographics that detail the case. It’s impossible to open Instagram or TikTok and not scroll through an avalanche of opinion after opinion on the case. Major media outlets are flooding our campus, filming students walking to class and stopping to interview them to get reactions about the incident and the administration's response. Let me be clear: Public outrage is correct and should be the prevailing reaction to any kind of sexual violence. However, when it begins to take on a life of its own — such as it has for this case, whose alleged perpetrators are now dubbed “the Cornell 7” — is it productive? And, more importantly, is it respectful to victims of sexual violence?
Media coverage is important, but it's so easy to lose sight of what a case like this is fundamentally about — systematic, societal and institutional failure. On the morning of Sept. 29, La Asociación Latina, Cornell’s primary Latino organization, and the Puerto Rican Student Association, which I am co-president of, received an email from reporters at Telemundo asking to meet with a representative to get “perspectives and reactions of Latino students regarding the sexual assault case involving the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell University.” Look me dead in the eye and tell me what Latino students have to do with this case and what possible insight we could offer. What hasn’t already been said? What more could there possibly be to say? It’s terrifying. It’s disappointing. When criminal cases become social media trends, it becomes too easy to add fuel to the fire on a big, unmanageable pile of reactions. This is not an online spectacle; this is a fundamental issue regarding the justice, or lack thereof, given to victims of sexual violence.
It’s deeply unsettling to see people follow a “viral video” archetype to talk about this case. You don’t have to sit in your car with the camera propped up or talk into a microphone to let people know you think sexual assault is bad. I’m a writer for Arts & Culture. I’m not an expert in law or due process, but I do know media, and I can tell when something has gotten out of hand. Sexual assault survivors stomach their victimhood every day, and seeing it sprawled out on such massive platforms with take after take — be it support or speculation — can intimidate other victims into not coming forward and re-open wounds that hardly ever heal. Let’s give it a month and see how much everyone still cares. Harbor this rage, feel the pain and don’t forget — but, please, have some respect when you talk about the events and the victim.
I remember sitting in Risley Dining Hall when I first heard of the alleged gang rape in 2024, feeling sick to my stomach and unable to finish my meal. I had been to a Chi Phi Halloween party that same October. I remember crying in my freshman dorm room, wondering if I had made the right decision coming to Cornell. What sick twist of fate made it Jane Doe that night and not me? This case reflects a much larger issue in our campus culture. It’s heartbreaking that it had to go as far as to become a trending topic before some fragment of justice might be had.
I applaud The Sun’s coverage on the case, for including a trigger warning before every article and being extremely respectful and productive in their reporting. To the influencers and reporters of the world, I promise you we don’t need another video of you with your camera propped up, looking sad while retelling the details of the case. Talk to the men in your life about the case, hold the administration accountable, hold the members of Chi Phi accountable, support ongoing student movements against sexual violence, read the lawsuit, read The Sun and be at Ho Plaza on Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m. Thank you, Jane Doe.
Paulina Delgado-Umpierre is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at pdelgadoumpierre@cornellsun.com.
